Sava II Petrović-Njegoš

Who was Sava II Petrović-Njegoš?

Sava II Petrović Njegoš was the Vladika of Montenegro, of the Petrović-Njegoš Dynasty. He succeeded Danilo I as Vladika in 1735. Danilo, who sought to introduce Sava gradually to the political affairs of the state, conferred on him the title of co-adjutor in the 1720s.

A contemplative who was happier as a studious monk than resolving conflicts, Sava preferred to leave his countrymen as they had been in the past, dependent on Venice and where necessary paying taxes to the Ottoman beys.

In 1735, the year in which Sava officially became Vladika, a new war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which Austria soon entered on Russia's side. Predictably this was welcomed by the Serbs in Austria-Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro in particular, who were ready to sacrifice everything in their long struggle for total independence. Hajduk activity increased, threatening not only Ottoman-controlled Bosnia and Herzegovina but also the coastal territory of Dalmatia ruled by Venice and by neighbouring Dubrovnik. Unable to impose firm leadership, Sava obviously had little or no influence on events that transpired; he still continued to seek some sort of appeasement with Venice, a policy that suited his conservative nature. Sava's goal was to secure more open borders for Montenegro, which was already suffering under blockades imposed by its invading Western and Eastern neighbours on all sides.